EXCLUSIVE: Sheikh era is a big hit

FOR once it was not just nostalgia and banter about the glory days dominating the conversation.

STAND AND DELIVER: Sumerbee proves how much effort the City put in to win six trophies in the 60s []

Franny Lee, Colin Bell and Mike Summerbee are as excited about Manchester City’s future as they are proud of their own illustrious achievements.

For nearly 40 years they have dined out on how they won six trophies – Second Division, First Division, Charity Shield, FA Cup, European Cup Winners’ Cup and League Cup – in a magnificent five-season spell of stylish football under the stewardship of Joe Mercer and Malcolm Allison.

Much has changed in football since they spearheaded that golden era, not least the finances. For instance, add up the combined transfer fees of the legendary trio and the figure comes to less than the weekly wages of Carlos Tevez.

But they believe the biggest change is on the way; after decades of mediocrity, City are about to ‘sheikh up’ the established order of English football.

The transformation, both on and off the pitch – since Abu Dhabi’s Sheikh Mansour bought the club a year ago and gave manager Mark Hughes a blank cheque book – has provided these former players, as much as the success-starved fans, with genuine belief that City are finally back at football’s top table.

Lee, Bell and Summerbee were brought together last week, with the rest of that great team of the late Sixties to be inducted into the National Football Museum’s Hall of Fame. But rather than looking back, they all yearn for City’s first trophy since the 1976 League Cup.

Now a club ambassador, Summerbee said: “What I would like is for us to be put in the museum, close the door and then let’s get the future sorted out.

“We look back at our history and we won’t forget that, but what would be lovely in my lifetime is to see City fans at Wembley, going into Europe and the club winning trophies again.

“There’s a real possibility of that happening with the way things are going . City could be on the verge of going through the same era we did.

“The club have moved from the 16th century to the 21st in just a year. Everything has changed, not just on the field. The training ground, the academy, everything.

“I was very lucky when I came here as a player in 1965 and it suddenly took off for us. We were champions within three years in the days when you couldn’t pick who was going to win it or get relegated because it was such a strong division.

“Now, becoming the club’s ambassador is like signing for them all over again. I’m so excited by what’s happening. And I hope the success will follow like it did all those years ago. Mark Hughes is going to prove one of the best managers this country – let alone this club – has ever seen.”

Lee, 65, joked about the Hall of Fame induction. “It’s a bit late . I think they are just catching us before we die,” he said.

But the man who had an ill-fated spell as City chairman in the mid-Nineties added: “I’m as excited by what’s happening as the fans . My two sons are crazy City fans. They have suffered for so many years at the hands of United supporters – but now they are able to have a chip back.”

Lee became a millionaire after hanging up his boots thanks to his waste-paper business. But even he is knocked over by the transfer fees and wages the new owners have splashed out.

“City bought me, Colin and Mike for a combined £135,000 – a weekly wage for some of the players now . The thing is they doubled their money when they sold me and Mike eight or nine years later. That’s not going to happen with Joleon Lescott or Robinho is it?

“But I don’t have a problem with all the money. Roman Abramovich did it at Chelsea and they have had six or seven successful years. I hope the same thing happens to City.

“And let’s hope that somebody else does the same thing at another club. I think it is good for the English game if there are a number of different clubs challenging at the top .”

Lee’s sentiments are based on the exciting unpredictability of the title destiny in his heyday. Between 1966 and 1972, seven different clubs won the league – Liverpool, Manchester United, Manchester City, Leeds, Everton, Arsenal and Derby. That was an era when City were the top dogs in Manchester.

“We had a very good record against United then,” said Lee, rubbing his hands with relish at the prospect of going into Sunday’s derby at Old Trafford with the confidence of four straight wins.

“I think I only lost two derbies in my time at City. And I still hold the record, with Joe Hayes, for goals in derby matches. For the first time since the mid-Seventies City look to have a team to match United.”

Bell has a stand named after him at the City of Manchester Stadium and works for the club on match days entertaining the fans in the executive boxes with stories about the good old days. But he would like nothing better than to be talking about modern-day heroes.

“It would give me as much joy if City can end this long wait for a trophy as it did when we were winning cups ,” he said. “I’ve got Blue blood and all I want is for this club is to be successful again. The way this team have come out of the traps, a top-four place and a trophy wouldn’t surprise me.”

Bell, whose career was cut short by injury suffered in a Manchester derby in 1975, gave his seal of approval for Hughes’s signings .

“I would have rubber-stamped the lot of them. They are my sort of players. They all have great quality but still put the effort in; they don’t live on their name or reputation.”

Those reputations will gain even more lustre if they equal City’s best-ever start to a top-flight season with a win at Old Trafford on Sunday. ‘Mark Hughes is going to prove one of the best managers this country has ever seen’